I met an Asian couple at a networking event who plan on having a child next year. They mentioned that they’re going to legally change their last name to a Western sounding name before that happens though with college admissions in mind. Would this actually work in hiding their child’s true ethnicity? Since from what I understand you’re not required to disclose race on college applications. What if their child grows up while omitting anything that may imply he’s Asian in the application.
I don’t think that kid will be thankful.
Clearly as part of the superrace.he will dominate the world when the chains of AA are unshackled. The only thing that could go wrong is that he plays to type and applies for CS along with 5 million other applicants.
that kid will go from state school to ivy. Asians get screwed over in admissions for top tier schools
Stupid.
Why is it stupid though? Seems to be a smart move.
I mean if you’re going to do something this incredibly stupid, at least go all out. Smh, why would you choose a white name when you could pretend to be some incredibly rare URM. Half Native American-half Pacific Islander anyone?
hope they’re planning on investing in a lot of plastic surgery too - got to make sure the interviewer doesn’t realize the kid is asian too.
CCers might flame me for this, but I think if the bias against Asians has reached the point where a couple decides to take a drastic step as this then something needs to be changed.
That would be a horrible premise to be bringing a kid into the world in… I mean, what if the kid doesn’t even want to go to college and wants to become a musician instead? I’m assuming they’re doing this for the admissions to the top schools, what if he doesn’t want an ivy? This seems way too planned out but at the same time done very poorly…
Who says this couple is thinking and behaving rationally? I’m not denying the fierce competition among Asian students. Maybe Asians should look outside the tiny universe of the same 25 “acceptable” schools.
(I say this as a Chinese American non tiger mom who discovered a whole new universe two years ago)
Another Asian “semi-Tiger” parent chiming in…this proves to me that we have reached a nadir in Machiavellian college admissions. April Fools was on Wed, so I’m assuming the OP is being truthful in his/her report. Sigh.
I agree with @SlackerMomMD and @SevenDad: I’m an Asian parent too. What needs to change is peoples’ stupidity (I won’t be holding my breath).
Next we’ll hear that they named the kid Rufus or LaQuindra and are going to have him/her be the founder for a junior NAACP chapter in the high school. They’ll adopt blackface for the interview.
These parents need a dope slap or two.
Colleges only give the URM preference if a URM box is checked, not by name or activity. They don’t try to guess whether someone is URM or not.
I’m exaggerating of course – it seems that this couple isn’t chasing a URM label but more to camouflage their Asian sounding last name. Dunno what’s gonna happen when kiddo is asked to submit parent demographics (place of birth: Shanghai, Mumbai or Gross Pointe?) and conferred degrees (Asian uni?)
We should ask CC to create a new sub-forum “Moderate Asian Parents willing to talk sense into you/your parents”…
This is a duplicate thread- at some point, it may get merged. Just saying.
Yeah, what needs to change is people’s stupidity- and how easily they assume. "I think it, so it must be true; I read it somewhere, so it is. Or, “I’m afraid, so there must be a bogeyman out there.”
Too much vanilla isn’t necessarily a good thing. The top colleges kids worry about have tens of thousands of apps and 90% are same old, same old. The problem isn’t being of Asian descent, even if you do play tennis and the violin and do research. Those are good things. They just shouldn’t be all there is.
The CA still asks parents’ names, where they were born and about their education. I don’t know how much people think they can hide- and what it says about them when they reach a level of paranoia.
A highly qualified applicant is…a highly qualified applicant. People should worry more about understanding what the top colleges DO look for, what makes one kid more compelling than another. Not assuming.
Btw, count me in as a semi-tiger mom, when the kids were younger. And I’m not Asian, though I look it and have been asked throughout my life.
That child hasn’t even been born yet, and they’re already planning his college trajectory?? That poor child.
His name is part of who he is.